iSportsman Staff

Rural South Dakota has a lot to offer outdoorsmen, Mount Rushmore for sightseers, the Badlands, and the Missouri River for anglers. There have also been some massive whitetail coming out of this region, and for the curious, we’ve rounded them up. Here are a few great South Dakota big bucks: 

South Dakota Big Bucks: 241 0/8 Inches, Non-Typical Archery Whitetail 

Austin Earley’s buck was scored by Boone & Crocket and Pope& Young in 2016, his 20 non-typical points totaling 54 6/8 inches. The buck had a typical 6×6 frame and scored a total of 241 0/8 inches surpassing the previous record of 211 3/8 inches.  

245 Inch Rifle Buck 

Bob Schoenfish made local headlines with his 2015 245-inch buck taken by rifle. He told North American Whitetail, “I drove the buck into town to show a couple people, but my quick trip turned into a couple hours. Every person I met would say, ‘you have to go show so-and-so.’ Then I’d drive to show someone else and I’d be flagged down before I could even get there. It was insane.” 

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South Dakota Big Bucks: 194 1/8 Inches Archery Buck 

Mike Mettler took down his legend buck in 2014, a busy hunting season for Mike who told the Aberdeen News he spent more than 180 hours pursuing the deer that fall—hunting for 30 days straight at one point.  

209 7/8 Archery Buck 

Mike Beadle snagged his giant buck in 2021 with just 20-minutes left of legal shooting light. He told North American Whitetail, “That moment is what dreams are made of. At that point, I was at peace more than I’ve ever been at peace. After years of whitetail hunting, that was the pinnacle.” 

Find more South Dakota big bucks on iSportsmanUSA.